Build your vocabulary and use it properlyĪ good vocabulary will allow you to express exactly what you mean, as clearly and concisely as possible. Essays should be balanced, so you can learn from the best of these writers and pick up some techniques to help you shape a balanced piece. Read the opinion pieces and dissect how the writer has supported their points with evidence, and again, be critical note where they’ve left things out to try to persuade you to a particular opinion. Be critical: what do you like about them? What don’t you like about them? How persuasive do you think they are? Is the argument a balanced one, with points adequately supported with evidence? Has the writer used any techniques you’ve not seen before?Īnother good source of essays is the broadsheet newspapers. Read essays on a wide variety of subjects, not necessarily just those that you’re studying different disciplines might apply different kinds of arguments or styles, so the wider you read, the more possible techniques there are for you to pick up and use in essays of your own.Īs you read other people’s essays, don’t just take them at face value. Try to read a range of other essays, including those of your peers and of academics. Just as the books you read subconsciously help mould your own writing style, so reading other people’s essays can help you develop and build on your own essay-writing style. So how do you take your essays to the next level and go from great to brilliant? Here are some practical tips and techniques that will help you write consistently impressive essays, especially if you’re considering attending an Oxford summer school.
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The problem is that when you write essays regularly, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut of repeating the same formula each time – particularly when you already receive good feedback from the teachers who read them.
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For many such students, each essay brings with it the challenge of making it that little bit better than the last one.